NostalgiaPast, Present, and FutureConstantine Sedikides,1 Tim Wildschut,1 Jamie Arndt,2 and Clay Routledge3

1University of Southampton, 2University of Missouri, and 3North Dakota State University

ABSTRACT—Traditionally, nostalgia has been conceptual-

ized as a medical disease and a psychiatric disorder. In-

stead, we argue that nostalgia is a predominantly positive,

self-relevant, and social emotion serving key psychological

functions. Nostalgic narratives reflect more positive than

negative affect, feature the self as the protagonist, and are

embedded in a social context. Nostalgia is triggered by

dysphoric states such as negative mood and loneliness.

Finally, nostalgia generates positive affect, increases self-

esteem, fosters social connectedness, and alleviates exis-

tential threat.

KEYWORDS—nostalgia; positive affect; self-esteem; social

connectedness; existential meaning

The term nostalgia was inadvertedly inspired by history’s most

famous itinerant. Emerging victoriously from the Trojan War,

Odysseus set sail for his native island of Ithaca to reunite with his

faithful wife, Penelope. For 3 years, our wandering hero fought

monsters, assorted evildoers, and mischievous gods. For another

7 years, he took respite in the arms of the beautiful sea nymph

Calypso. Possessively, she offered to make him immortal if he

stayed with her on the island of Ogygia. ‘‘Full well I acknowl-

edge,’’ Odysseus replied to his mistress, ‘‘prudent Penelope

cannot compare with your stature or beauty, for she is only a

mortal, and you are immortal and ageless. Nevertheless, it is she

whom I daily desire and pine for. Therefore I long for my home and

to see the day of returning’’ (Homer, 1921, Book V, pp. 78–79).

This romantic declaration, along with other expressions of

Odyssean longing in the eponymous Homeric epic, gave rise to

the term nostalgia. It is a compound word, consisting of nostos

(return) and algos (pain). Nostalgia, then, is literally the

suffering due to relentless yearning for the homeland. The term

nostalgia was coined in the 17th century by the Swiss physician

Johaness Hofer (1688/1934), but references to the emotion it

denotes can be found in Hippocrates, Caesar, and the Bible.

HISTORICAL AND MODERN CONCEPTIONS OF

NOSTALGIA

From the outset, nostalgia was equated with homesickness. It

was also considered a bad omen. In the 17th and 18th centuries,

speculation about nostalgia was based on observations of Swiss

mercenaries in the service of European monarchs. Nostalgia

was regarded as a medical disease confined to the Swiss, a view

that persisted through most of the 19th century. Symptoms—

including bouts of weeping, irregular heartbeat, and anorexia—

were attributed variously to demons inhabiting the middle brain,

sharp differentiation in atmospheric pressure wreaking havoc in

the brain, or the unremitting clanging of cowbells in the Swiss

Alps, which damaged the eardrum and brain cells.

By the beginning of the 20th century, nostalgia was regarded

as a psychiatric disorder. Symptoms included anxiety, sadness,

and insomnia. By the mid-20th century, psychodynamic ap-

proaches considered nostalgia a subconscious desire to return

to an earlier life stage, and it was labeled as a repressive com-

pulsive disorder. Soon thereafter, nostalgia was downgraded to a

variant of depression, marked by loss and grief, though still

equated with homesickness (for a historical review of nostalgia,

see Sedikides, Wildschut, & Baden, 2004).

By the late 20th century, there were compelling reasons for

nostalgia and homesickness to finally part ways. Adult partici-

pants regard nostalgia as different from homesickness. For ex-

ample, they associate the words warm, old times, childhood, and

yearning more frequently with nostalgia than with homesickness

(Davis, 1979). Furthermore, whereas homesickness research

focused on the psychological problems (e.g., separation anxiety)

that can arise when young people transition beyond the home

environment, nostalgia transcends social groups and age. For

example, nostalgia is found cross-culturally and among well-

functioning adults, children, and dementia patients (Sedikides

et al., 2004; Sedikides, Wildschut, Routledge, & Arndt, 2008;

Zhou, Sedikides, Wildschut, & Gao, in press). Finally, although

homesickness refers to one’s place of origin, nostalgia can refer

Address correspondence to Constantine Sedikides, Center for Re-search on Self and Identity, School of Psychology, University ofSouthampton, Southampton SO17 1BJ, England, U.K.; e-mail:cs2@soton.ac.uk.

CURRENT DIRECTIONS IN PSYCHOLOGICAL SCIENCE

304 Volume 17—Number 5Copyright r 2008 Association for Psychological Science

to a variety of objects (e.g., persons, events, places; Wildschut,

Sedikides, Arndt, & Routledge, 2006).

It is in this light that we note the contemporary definition of

nostalgia as a sentimental longing for one’s past. It is, moreover, a

sentimentality that is pervasively experienced. Over 80% of

British undergraduates reported experiencing nostalgia at least

once a week (Wildschut et al., 2006). Given this apparent

ubiquity, the time has come for an empirical foray into the

content, causes, and functions of this emotion.

THE EMPIRICAL BASIS FOR UNDERSTANDING

NOSTALGIA

The Canvas of Nostalgia

What is the content of the nostalgic experience? Wildschut et al.

(2006) analyzed the content of narratives submitted voluntarily

by (American and Canadian) readers to the periodical Nostalgia.

Also, Wildschut et al. asked British undergraduates to write a

narrative account of a nostalgic experience. These narratives

were also analyzed for content. Across both studies, the most

frequently listed objects of nostalgic reverie were close others

(family members, friends, partners), momentous events (birth-

days, vacations), and settings (sunsets, lakes).

Nostalgia has been conceptualized variously as a negative,

ambivalent, or positive emotion (Sedikides et al., 2004). These

conceptualizations were put to test. In a study by Wildschut,

Stephan, Sedikides, Routledge, and Arndt (2008), British and

American undergraduates wrote narratives about a ‘‘nostalgic

event’’ (vs. an ‘‘ordinary event’’) in their lives and reflected

briefly upon the event and how it made them feel. Content

analysis revealed that the simultaneous expression of happiness

and sadness was more common in narratives of nostalgic events

than in narratives of ordinary events. Also in Wildschut et al.,

British undergraduates wrote about a nostalgic (vs. ordinary vs.

simply positive) event in their lives and then rated their happi-

ness and sadness. Although the recollection of ordinary and

positive events rarely gave rise to both happiness and sadness,

such coactivation occurred much more frequently following the

recollection of a nostalgic event. Yet, nostalgic events featured

more frequent expressions of happiness than of sadness and

induced higher levels of happiness than of sadness.

Wildschut et al. (2006) obtained additional evidence that

nostalgia is mostly a positively toned emotion: The narratives

included far more expressions of positive than negative affect. At

the same time, though, there was evidence of bittersweetness.

Many narratives contained descriptions of disappointments and

losses, and some touched on such issues as separation and even

the death of loved ones. Nevertheless, positive and negative

elements were often juxtaposed to create redemption, a narrative

pattern that progresses from a negative or undesirable state (e.g.,

suffering, pain, exclusion) to a positive or desirable state (e.g.,

acceptance, euphoria, triumph; McAdams, 2001). For example,

although a family reunion started badly (e.g., an uncle insulting

the protagonist), it nevertheless ended well (e.g., the family

singing together after dinner).

The strength of the redemption theme may explain why, de-

spite the descriptions of sorrow, the overall affective signature of

the nostalgic narratives was positive.

Moreover, Wildschut et al. (2006) showed that nostalgia is a

self-relevant and social emotion: The self almost invariably

figured as the protagonist in the narratives and was almost always

surrounded by close others. In all, the canvas of nostalgia is rich,

reflecting themes of selfhood, sociality, loss, redemption, and

ambivalent, yet mostly positive, affectivity.

The Triggers of Nostalgia

Wildschut et al. (2006) asked participants to describe when they

become nostalgic. The most frequently reported trigger was

negative affect (‘‘I think of nostalgic experiences when I am sad

as they often make me feel better’’), and, within this category,

loneliness was the most frequently reported discrete affective

state (‘‘If I ever feel lonely or sad I tend to think of my friends or

family who I haven’t seen in a long time’’). Given these initial

reports, Wildschut et al. proceeded to test whether indeed

negative mood and loneliness qualify as nostalgia triggers.

British undergraduates read one of three news stories, each

based on actual events, that were intended to influence their mood.

In the negative-mood condition, they read about the Tsunami that

struck coastal regions in Asia and Africa in December 2004. In the

neutral-mood condition, they read about the January 2005 landing

of the Huygens probe on Titan. In the positive-mood condition,

they read about the November 2004 birth of a polar bear, osten-

sibly in the London Zoo (actually in the Detroit Zoo). Then they

completed a measure of nostalgia, rating the extent to which they

missed 18 aspects of their past (e.g., ‘‘holidays I went on,’’ ‘‘past TV

shows, movies,’’ ‘‘someone I loved’’). Participants in the negative-

mood condition were more nostalgic (i.e., missed more aspects of

their past) than were participants in the other two conditions.

In another study, loneliness was successfully induced by

giving participants false (high vs. low) feedback on a ‘‘loneli-

ness’’ test (i.e., they were led to believe they were either lonely or

not lonely based on the feedback). Subsequently, participants

rated how much they missed 18 aspects of their past. Partici-

pants in the high-loneliness condition were more nostalgic than

those in the low-loneliness condition. These findings were rep-

licated among 9- to 15-year-old Chinese children, Chinese un-

dergraduates, and Chinese factory workers (Zhou et al., in press).

Why might negative mood and loneliness trigger nostalgia?

The psychological significance of nostalgia may reside in its

capacity to counteract distress and restore psychological equa-

nimity. But what are the pathways through which nostalgia exerts

such palliative benefits?

The Psychological Significance of Nostalgia

Wildschut et al. (2006) randomly assigned British undergradu-

ates to a nostalgia or ordinary-event condition. They induced

Volume 17—Number 5 305

C. Sedikides et al.

nostalgia in one of two ways. First, they instructed participants to

think of a nostalgic (vs. ordinary) event from their lives, list four

relevant keywords, and reflect briefly upon the event and how it

made them feel. Second, they provided participants with the

definition of nostalgia and instructed them to bring to mind a

nostalgic autobiographical event, immerse themselves in the

experience, and write about it for 6 minutes. Here, in the control

condition, participants thought about the ordinary event as if

they were observers, imagined the event as though they were

historians recording factual details, and produced a factual ac-

count. (Notably, further studies have additionally contrasted

nostalgia with reflections on positive events, positive future

events, and autobiographical memories.)

Following successful nostalgia manipulation checks, Wildschut

et al. (2006) assessed affect, self-regard, and social connect-

edness. They assessed affect either with the items ‘‘happy,’’

‘‘content,’’ ‘‘sad,’’ and ‘‘blue’’ or with the Positive and Negative

Affect Schedule (PANAS; Watson, Clark, & Tellegen, 1988).

They assessed self-regard either with the items ‘‘significant’’

and ‘‘self-esteem’’ or with the Rosenberg Self-Esteem Scale

(Rosenberg, 1965). Finally, they assessed social connectedness

using (a) the items ‘‘loved’’ and ‘‘protected’’ (b) the Revised

Experiences in Close Relationships Scale (Fraley, Waller, &

Brennan, 2000), which indexes attachment anxiety and avoid-

ance; and (c) the Interpersonal Competence Questionnaire

(Buhrmeister, Furman, Wittenberg, & Reis, 1998); the assess-

ment focused on perceived competence in initiating social in-

teractions, self-disclosing, and providing emotional support.

Wildschut et al. (2006) proposed that nostalgia serves as a

repository of positive affect. Nostalgia has been characterized as

a ‘‘joyous’’ experience that gives rise to ‘‘a feeling of elation’’

(Kaplan, 1987, p. 465). Indeed, nostalgic participants reported

more positive (but not negative) affect than did control partici-

pants. Nostalgia generates positive affectivity.

Wildschut et al. (2006) also proposed that nostalgia enhances

positive self-regard. Nostalgia has been theorized to bestow

‘‘an endearing luster’’ on the self and to cast ‘‘marginal, fugitive,

and eccentric facets of earlier selves in a positive light’’

(Davis, 1979, pp. 41–46). Indeed, nostalgic participants

reported higher self-regard than did control participants. Nos-

talgia not only elevates positive self-regard, it also increases the

implicit accessibility of positive self-attributes and attenuates

self-esteem defence (Vess, Arndt, Routledge, Sedikides, &

Wildschut, 2008).

Moreover, Wildschut et al. (2006) proposed that nostalgia

strengthens social bonds. Nostalgia is a social emotion; it has

been said that, during nostalgic reverie, ‘‘the mind is ‘peopled’’’

(Hertz, 1990, p. 195). Symbolic ties with close others are af-

firmed, and close others come to be momentarily part of one’s

present. Indeed, nostalgic participants manifested stronger so-

cial connectedness than did control participants: They felt more

loved and protected, had reduced attachment anxiety and

avoidance, and reported greater interpersonal competence.

Would nostalgia be capable of counteracting the negative ef-

fects of loneliness? Can nostalgia serve a coping function? Zhou

et al. (in press) addressed this question. They found that lone-

liness is associated with, or triggers, perceived lack of social

support. At the same time, loneliness is associated with, or

triggers, nostalgia. Interestingly, nostalgia is associated with, or

triggers, perceptions of social support. Loneliness directly re-

duces perceptions of social support, but indirectly increases

such perceptions via nostalgia: Nostalgia magnifies perceptions

of social support, thus counteracting the effect of loneliness.

Finally, Routledge, Arndt, Sedikides, and Wildschut (2008)

proposed that nostalgia imbues life with meaning, which facil-

itates coping with existential threat. One of the primary human

challenges is carving out a meaningful existence. Yet, awareness

of inevitable mortality presents a major obstacle on the path to

psychological equanimity. According to terror management

theory, one can mitigate existential anxiety through shared be-

liefs about the nature of reality that imbue life with meaning.

Nostalgia can contribute an overall sense of enduring meaning to

one’s life. In several studies testing American undergraduates,

Routledge et al. supported this existential function of nostalgia.

After being reminded of their mortality (relative to an aversive

dental procedure), the more nostalgic participants felt, the more

meaningful they perceived their life to be. Also, after reminders

of mortality (relative to a dental procedure or failing an important

exam), participants who were more prone to nostalgia (e.g., had

reported frequent engagement in nostalgia), or who had received

a nostalgia induction, actually had fewer death-related thoughts.

Nostalgia boosted perceptions of life as meaningful and

assuaged existential threat.

FUTURE DIRECTIONS

Another key function of nostalgia is that it may facilitate con-

tinuity between past and present selves. Nostalgia may facilitate

use of positive perceptions about the past to bolster a sense of

continuity and meaning in one’s life (Sedikides, Wildschut,

Gaertner, Routledge, & Arndt, 2008). An additional function of

nostalgia may be its motivating potential. Nostalgia may boost

optimism, spark inspiration, and foster creativity (Stephan,

Wildschut, Sedikides, Routledge, & Arndt, 2008). Recent re-

search provides initial evidence for both of these possibilities. Of

course, there may also be complex nuances that merit attention.

Nostalgia may erode a sense of meaning in the present and may

forestall motivation, if the individual is fixated on better days

gone by.

Socioemotional selectivity theory (Carstensen, Isaacowitz, &

Charles, 1999) proposes that, with advancing age, people come

to view their life span as limited. They shift attention away from

future-oriented, knowledge-related goals and emphasize the

importance of purpose and meaning in life and of being em-

bedded in a social network. This raises two issues about nos-

306 Volume 17—Number 5

Nostalgia

talgia. First, are age-related changes in motivation reflected in

the frequency and content of nostalgia? Older (compared to

younger) adults may experience nostalgia more frequently and

assign a more prominent role to close others in their nostalgic

reverie. Second, does nostalgia acquire greater significance in

older age? Bereavement and declines in physical health may

render older adults especially vulnerable to social isolation,

which, in turn, would impair the formation and maintenance of

intimate friendships and social networks. Nostalgia, then, would

have an important role to play in reestablishing a symbolic

connection with significant others.

CODA

Regarded throughout centuries as a psychological ailment,

nostalgia is now emerging as a fundamental human strength. It is

part of the fabric of everyday life and serves at least four key

psychological functions: It generates positive affect, elevates

self-esteem, fosters social connectedness, and alleviates exis-

tential threat. By so doing, nostalgia can help one navigate

successfully the vicissitudes of daily life. More generally, nos-

talgia is uniquely positioned to offer integrative insights across

such areas of psychology as memory, emotion, the self, and re-

lationships. Nostalgia has a long past and an exciting future.

Recommended ReadingBatcho, K.I. (1995). Nostalgia: A psychological perspective. Perceptual

and Motor Skills, 80, 131–143. Reports a measure of nostalgia in

which participants rate the extent to which they missed aspects of

their past.

Davis, F. (1979). (See References). A scholarly introduction of the

construct of nostalgia, and a review of available evidence.

Routledge, C., Arndt, J., Sedikides, C., & Wildschut, T. (2008). (See

References). An empirical demonstration of the existential func-

tion of nostalgia.

Sedikides, C., Wildschut, T., & Baden, D. (2004). (See References). A

review of historical conceptions of nostalgia coupled with specu-

lations about nostalgia’s functions.

Wildschut, T., Sedikides, C., Arndt, J., & Routledge, C.D. (2006). (See

References). An exploration of the content and triggers of nostalgic

accounts, as well as an empirical foray into the affective, self-re-

gard, and social-connectedness functions of nostalgia.

REFERENCES

Buhrmeister, D., Furman, W., Wittenberg, M.T., & Reis, H.T. (1998).

Five domains of interpersonal competence in peer relation-

ships. Journal of Personality and Social Psychology, 55,

991–1008.

Carstensen, L.L., Issacowitz, D.M., & Charles, S.T. (1999). Taking time

seriously: A theory of socioemotional selectivity. American Psy-chologist, 54, 165–181.

Davis, F. (1979). Yearning for yesterday: A sociology of nostalgia. New

York: Free Press.

Fraley, R.C., Waller, N.G., & Brennan, K.A. (2000). An item response

theory analysis of self-report measures of adult attachment.

Journal of Personality and Social Psychology, 78, 350–365.

Hertz, D.G. (1990). Trauma and nostalgia: New aspects of the coping of

aging holocaust survivors. Israeli Journal of Psychiatry and Re-lated Sciences, 27, 189–198.

Hofer, J. (1934). Medical dissertation on nostalgia. (C.K. Anspach,

Trans.). Bulletin of the History of Medicine, 2, 376–391. (Original

work published 1688)

Homer. (1921). The Odyssey (F. Caulfied, Trans.). London: G. Bell and

Sons.

Kaplan, H.A. (1987). The psychopathology of nostalgia. PsychoanalyticReview, 74, 465–486.

McAdams, D.P. (2001). The psychology of life stories. Review of GeneralPsychology, 5, 100–122.

Rosenberg, M. (1965). Society and the adolescent self-image. Princeton,

NJ: Princeton University Press.

Routledge, C., Arndt, J., Sedikides, C., & Wildschut, T. (2008). A blast

from the past: The terror management function of nostalgia.

Journal of Experimental Social Psychology, 44, 132–140.

Sedikides, C., Wildschut, T., & Baden, D. (2004). Nostalgia: Conceptual

issues and existential functions. In J. Greenberg, S. Koole, & T.

Pyszczynski (Eds.), Handbook of experimental existential psy-chology (pp. 200–214). New York: Guilford Press.

Sedikides, C., Wildschut, T., Gaertner, L., Routledge, C., & Arndt, J.

(2008). Nostalgia as enabler of self-continuity. In F. Sani (Ed.),

Self-continuity: Individual and collective perspectives (pp. 227–

239). New York: Psychology Press.

Sedikides, C., Wildschut, T., Routledge, C., & Arndt, J. (2008). Nos-talgia across the life-span. Unpublished data, University of

Southampton.

Stephan, E., Wildschut, T., Sedikides, C., Routledge, C.R., & Arndt, J.

(2008). The magic of the past: Nostalgia inspires. Unpublished

manuscript, University of Southampton.

Vess, M., Arndt, J., Routledge, C., Sedikides, C., & Wildschut, T.

(2008). Nostalgia as self-esteem resource. Unpublished data, Uni-

versity of Missouri.

Watson, D., Clark, L.A., & Tellegen, A. (1988). Development and val-

idation of brief measures of positive and negative affect: The

PANAS scales. Journal of Personality and Social Psychology, 55,

1063–1070.

Wildschut, T., Sedikides, C., Arndt, J., & Routledge, C.D. (2006).

Nostalgia: Content, triggers, functions. Journal of Personality andSocial Psychology, 91, 975–993.

Wildschut, T., Stephan, E., Sedikides, C., Routledge, C., & Arndt, J.

(2008, February). Feeling happy and sad at the same time: Nos-talgia informs models of affect. Paper presented at the 9th Annual

Meeting of the Society for Personality and Social Psychology, Al-

buquerque, New Mexico.

Zhou, X, Sedikides, C., Wildschut, C., & Gao, D.-G. (in press). Coun-

teracting loneliness: On the restorative function of nostalgia.

Psychological Science.

Volume 17—Number 5 307

C. Sedikides et al.